A Majority Of Americans Say Stimulus Not Working

Speaking of skeptical Americans, there’s not much of anything this administration is saying that they believe. For instance, in a new USA Today/Gallup poll, 57% of them say the stimulus isn’t working:

Six months after President Obama launched a $787 billion plan to right the nation’s economy, a majority of Americans think the avalanche of new federal aid has cost too much and done too little to end the recession.

That’s a pretty stark number, and I would guess the administration knows that it is more likely to go up rather than down considering how the stimulus funds were to be disbursed over the years.

75% said they were very worried or somewhat worried that the stimulus funds were being wasted. 60% think the plan will have no effect or actually make things worse. 81% believe that in the short run the plan has made their own financial situation worse or had no effect, and 70% believe the plan will make their financial situation worse or have no effect in the long run.

That is a glaring lack of confidence in government. It is also another indication of why I continue to say that the anger you see at townhall meetings isn’t just about health care. For decades through the administrations of both parties we’ve seen the metaphor about the frog in slowly heated water acted out.

But what happened late last year was the heat under the frog was turned up to high and the frog finally noticed it and didn’t like it. Bailouts and “stimulus” in the trillions with money we don’t have. The government takeover of banks, financial institutions and auto companies. Deficits exponentially larger than any in history and extending into the future as far as the eye can see. And then the attempt to regulate emissions in the face of unsettled and dubious “science” through cap-and-trade, and the final straw, the health care grab.

Hey, do you suppose this majority is contained as a significant number in the same set as the majority of Americans that the left keeps claiming overwhelmingly supports a National Health Care plan?

Man, I really love that they truly do believe their own socialist rhetoric. It’s like listening to a big foot believer proclaim that he represents the majority of Americans with his belief in the big furry guy. What I really love is that dumbass look of disbelief they get on their faces when they discover they aren’t the majority after all.

This is why I keep saying that it is not just the economy that is sinking The Clown™. It is a combination of the economy, the massive spending that has done nothing but anger people, and the general feeling that a horrific mistake was made last November when a man so incredibly ill-suited to run this country won the presidency. The Clown™ was not ready for prime time, and nothing he says or does can change that. The only thing that has changed is that a majority of Americans now realize it, to our combined misfortune.

Yes. Whatever happens, Obama’s magic spell has broken and he broke it himself by repeated betrayals of the promises, direct and implicit, he made to Americans during his high-flying campaign as the reincarnation of FDR, JFK, and MLK.
Obama can accept governing as a regular, typically embattled, American President, but that’s all he’s got left, and it’s an option that does not suit his ego.

Look at his muddled position on healthcare. Is he or is he not pushing the public option? When is he going to step up to the plate? Does he actualy know what’s in the bill?

As he fails on domestic policy, how will foreign policy fly? His SoS has a public meltdown, he shot from the hip on Honduras and was wrong, every step he has taken has been a disaster, except when he follows Bush’s lead.

The USA Today Presidential Approval Tracker is quite potent. Flip it into “compare” mode and go nuts with data from Presidents back to Truman. It hasn’t been updated since July 19, though, which is a real pity.

Of course they haven’t seen the stimulus working. Only 15 to 29% of the stimulus money, depending on who’s talking, has been let out. Most isn’t scheduled to go out 2010. You know , election year. But they’re shovel ready.

“Obama can accept governing as a regular, typically embattled, American President, but that’s all he’s got left, and it’s an option that does not suit his ego.

Last I heard, about 200 billion had been approved for disbursal which puts them behind the schedule they had set for themselves of 215 billion by this time. That doesn’t mean it is spent – it only means it has been approved for spending.

How many of you remember Reagan’s first two years as President? His magic spell was broken quickly, his popularity plummeted, and by 1982 the Democrats were licking their chops at the chance to take him out in 1984. Politics is a strange game. Things change quickly, and the mood of one moment can dissipate as soon as a new story hits the scene.

“and by 1982 the Democrats were licking their chops at the chance to take him out in 1984.”

Yeah, remember how that turned out? The context is a bit different this go round.

I remember Reagan’s first two years.

I also remember Carter’s entire four years.

What Reagan inherited was a 14% inflation rate, an 18% Prime Rate, just under a 10% unemployment rate which was filled by people with college degree’s, a stock market that, adjusted for inflation was flatlining.

Shall we compare that to what the Democrats inherited when they took over in January, 2007?

Reagan knew full well that his fix (a real fix, not a deference to the Beltway crowd) would be hard and traumatic, but remember how badly he kicked Mondale’s ass in 1984? Mondale took the People’s Republic of Massachusetts and only took his own state of Minnesota by about 2,000 votes out of about 2.5 million; that’s about 50.001%. IOW, the worst drubbing in history.

So, here’s the difference: Inflation plummeting, along with interest rates, gas prices reverse and led to OPEC imploding.

The kickoff of the technology revolution, including the tweaking of transportation rules that gave UPS and FedEx a big boost that helped start the eCommerce industry (Amazon, etc).